How Meghan managed to out-shine locals at morning tea

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may be royalty, but they've still gotta eat, particularly Meghan, now that she's with child.

Thankfully, the couple are in excellent hands, with the likes of the NSW branch of the Country Women's Association being called upon to prepare food for the Royal Tour, the ladies saying they were "shocked" when they received the request.

It was even more difficult to keep the exciting task a secret, but they managed to until today, when they spoke exclusively to 9Honey about the occasion.

In Dubbo on Wednesday, just before images of Harry and Meghan sitting down on the farm speaking to the family were beamed around the world, the royals enjoyed a special morning tea.

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Marg Blatch from the CWA tells 9Honey they made scones, tarts, a sponge cake and a banana cake for the tea, not knowing Meghan would also be bringing banana bread.

"We didn't know she was going to do that," Ms Blatch says.

The banana cake above was prepared by the CWA, and the banana bread below was prepared by the Duchess. (Facebook )

And the story behind that special morning tea gets even better, with the jam used on the treats a saga in itself.

CWA NSW first became aware that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry may be eating their delicious jam when numerous jars were requested by the Wongabbon branch ahead of the Duke and Duchess' arrival.

The morning tea was a private event with the family, no media invited. (Getty )

Sydney CWA volunteer Tonya Valentino, who along with her mother has been a life-long volunteer of the CWA, says she was having difficulty sourcing funding and ingredients for their annual jam production when 175,000 strawberries landed on their doorstep, courtesy of Sydney Markets.

It was in August when the Sydney team asked Tonya to help source funds to purchase ingredients so they could begin producing the delicious jam they sell at the Christmas stalls at local markets.

"I must have contacted over 100 businesses requesting donations," she says. "I received a lot of responses, a lot of 'nos'."

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Just two days after she'd run out of options, the CWA volunteer was contacted by Sydney Markets. By then news had broken that needles had been found in strawberries around the country, and they stopped selling, consumers too fearful to risk eating them.

Ms Valentino thought she misheard at first when she was offered 14 pallets. She thought they'd said '14 punnets'.

"I had to ask what that meant and was told it was 24,000 punnets, which is 250,000 strawberries," she says. "I said we’d take them, no problem."

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Ms Valentino says she contacted her mother, a Vice President at CWA, who set about organising storage for the fruit, and facilities large enough to make an extraordinary amount of strawberry jam.

The Food Bank stored the strawberries for them, and The Dinner Ladies offered use of their commercial kitchen at the weekend when it wasn’t in use.

"The produce was premium," she says of the strawberries. "Absolutely amazing. You couldn’t taste sweeter strawberries."

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CWA volunteers gathered together and spent two days producing 1600 jars of strawberry jam for sale, attaching a label to each jar saying ‘Farmers Jam’.

"The following Friday I got a call about the jam, from someone who had seen us on TV and had heard we’d made 1600 jars with donated strawberries," she says. "I thought they wanted to buy some but then they asked us to send them to Dubbo."

It was then that Ms Valentino discovered the CSW branch in Dubbo had been asked to cook scones and tarts for a special morning tea, one that would be attended by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

"I was a bit shocked but also excited," she says. "I started squealing."

While Markle, 37, needs to be mindful of what she eats during the Royal Tour due to her pregnancy, jam is considered safe for expectant mothers owing to the fact the fruit has been cooked at high heat.

Which is fortunate, because the treats were reportedly delicious, and a wonderful way to welcome the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to central NSW.

Find out more about the incredible work of the Country Women’s Association and to find out where you can purchase their incredible jam by visiting the official website at cwaofnsw.org.au.